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Displaying items by tag: ardglass marina

#RNLI - Newcastle RNLI volunteer crews were woken by their pagers at 3.34am yesterday morning (Wednesday 26 July) after a lone yachtsman ran aground at the mouth of Ardglass Marina in Co Down.

The all-weather lifeboat Eleanor and Bryant Girling was on the way by 3.55am and arrived on scene with the casualty vessel 45 minutes later. 

The lifeboat crew found the yacht hard aground and listing heavily to starboard on the breakwater protecting the marina. 

Under command of coxswain William Chambers, the RNLI crew tried manoeuvring their lifeboat close to the yacht only to find the tide had fallen too much and was too far away to retrieve the lone sailor from his vessel.

With full co-ordination between the RNLI and Newcastle Coastguard on the shore, the lifeboat pulled back to deeper water and provided safety cover while members of the coastguard team carried out a rescue from the shore.

The casualty was removed from the vessel for his own safety with no injuries, and with everyone accounted for the lifeboat was stood down.

Published in RNLI Lifeboats

Ardglass Marina (also known as Phennick cove marina) is situated just south of Strangford, Ardglass has the capacity to accomodate up to 33 yachts as well as space for small craft. Despite being relatively small in size, the marina boasts an extensive array of facilities, either on site or close at hand. Most of the necessary shops, including grocery stores, a post office, chemist and off-licence, are all within a five-minute walk from the marina. Among the local onshore activities are golf, mountain climbing in Newcastle, which is 18 miles south, aswell as scenic walks at Ardglass and Delamont Park.

Published in Irish Marinas

Marine Wildlife Around Ireland One of the greatest memories of any day spent boating around the Irish coast is an encounter with marine wildlife.  It's a thrill for young and old to witness seabirds, seals, dolphins and whales right there in their own habitat. As boaters fortunate enough to have experienced it will testify even spotting a distant dorsal fin can be the highlight of any day afloat.  Was that a porpoise? Was it a whale? No matter how brief the glimpse it's a privilege to share the seas with Irish marine wildlife.

Thanks to the location of our beautiful little island, perched in the North Atlantic Ocean there appears to be no shortage of marine life to observe.

From whales to dolphins, seals, sharks and other ocean animals this page documents the most interesting accounts of marine wildlife around our shores. We're keen to receive your observations, your photos, links and youtube clips.

Boaters have a unique perspective and all those who go afloat, from inshore kayaking to offshore yacht racing that what they encounter can be of real value to specialist organisations such as the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) who compile a list of sightings and strandings. The IWDG knowledge base has increased over the past 21 years thanks in part at least to the observations of sailors, anglers, kayakers and boaters.

Thanks to the IWDG work we now know we share the seas with dozens of species who also call Ireland home. Here's the current list: Atlantic white-sided dolphin, beluga whale, blue whale, bottlenose dolphin, common dolphin, Cuvier's beaked whale, false killer whale, fin whale, Gervais' beaked whale, harbour porpoise, humpback whale, killer whale, minke whale, northern bottlenose whale, northern right whale, pilot whale, pygmy sperm whale, Risso's dolphin, sei whale, Sowerby's beaked whale, sperm whale, striped dolphin, True's beaked whale and white-beaked dolphin.

But as impressive as the species list is the IWDG believe there are still gaps in our knowledge. Next time you are out on the ocean waves keep a sharp look out!